We had one kid come to the door this year. Just one. We've never been the busiest spot because we're kind of on the end of a residential area bordering on some businesses and schools, but usually we get at least twenty or so. When I was going door-to-door with my little boy we only saw two or three other groups trick-or-treating, maybe ten kids in all. Some of our neighbours gave him candy by the handful because he was one of only three or four kids they'd seen all night.

When I was a kid literally everyone went out on Halloween to extort candy from strangers except for the small handful of poor kids with religious fanatics for parents who thought it was devil-worship. Now it seems like it's only a small handful that do go out, at least in our neighbourhood. Is this normal now? And if it is, what the heck happened?

Amusingly the reverse is true over here, Halloween seems to be more and more a thing every year. Much to the disgust of the Daily Mail at this filthy American holiday getting a foothold in over our beloved Guy Fawkes.

Thankfully it seems to be more an excuse for kids (and adults) having parties than risking traipsing around streets in the cold and getting potshots taken at them by people who have roughly as much time for it as I do.

Just depends on location, I guess. I didn't have a single one (granted, I didn't leave the light on to attract any), but one street about a mile away had a block party with a tally exceeding 1100 by the end of the night.

Most parents in my area now either take their kids to parties, the mall or drive them to the nicer areas of the city to trick or treat. We just took our kid around to our neighbours. Not everyone had lights on, but enough did that she got a bunch of sweets. Throughout the night we got maybe 20-30 kids, I think?

This is my signature. My wasted space. My little corner. You can't have it. It's mine. I can write whatever I want. And I have!

Amusingly the reverse is true over here, Halloween seems to be more and more a thing every year. Much to the disgust of the Daily Mail at this filthy American holiday getting a foothold in over our beloved Guy Fawkes.

Costumes and free candy > remembering a failed traitor. Why is that surprising?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sades

Most parents in my area now either take their kids to parties, the mall or drive them to the nicer areas of the city to trick or treat. We just took our kid around to our neighbours. Not everyone had lights on, but enough did that she got a bunch of sweets. Throughout the night we got maybe 20-30 kids, I think?

Trick-or-treating at the mall is becoming a thing here too, but where's the fun in that? I guess it lets people avoid the cold, though I think parents are more worried about that than the kids are. Especially the ones who moved here from warmer climates (read: basically anywhere) and start wearing their parkas before the temperature dips below 10°C, while the native Winnipeggers are still wandering around in shorts.

I've been in my place for a couple of years now, and I've never had any trick or treaters. I think it's because I'm on a side street. I've seen them on the main streets, but they never come here.

And apparently the local mall is a bit of a madhouse.

As a professional tanuki (I'm a Japanese mythological animal, and a good luck charm), I have an alarm clock built into me somewhere. I also look like a stuffed animal. And you thought your life was tough......

There was move roaming the streets near me this year than last. And cheeringly, they were children and their parents.

In recent years, we've had sulky teenagers in bin bags showing up "trick or treat bruv, give us some sweets or I put your windows through", so I'm glad they've taken up vaping and apps and gone away. Jesus, when was TOT ever a thing to do as a teenager? Muppets.

We had a pretty busy neighborhood this year, compared to some years past. I think we've had an influx of young families in the past 3-ish years.

There's also several community 'Trick-or-Treat' events leading up to Halloween itself, so maybe those are putting a dent in the people participating on the actual holiday. I know my kids donned their costumes twice for these types of things before actually hitting Halloween. We still went on the holiday for sure, but they already had a half-bucket of candy before then.

We just put the basket outside. Pretty much full. Didn't notice any kids stopping by. My door bell was broke anyway. By the end of the night I went out to collect the basket, it was 90% empty. Think the rabbits and squirrels took them.